Most of you already know about this but I figured I’d go ahead and update the blog for “record keeping” purposes. I had attempted a large Perler installation and it FAILEd pretty miserably. Laying down the beads on the pegboard was the easy and fun part. Ironing was a MESS! Word of advice, when you iron a large piece, remember to use medium heat and START IN THE MIDDLE. I started on the outer edges and… well, scroll down, and you will see. Here’s photos of my progression:

Above: I had dropped my tool and it made a bunch of beads jump off the board. This was a minor set back, just remember to be careful when you’re working over a large piece!

Above: Watching Dragon Ball Z while working on Goku and Goten kekeke

Above: Quarter in the top right and a 16 oz coke bottle on the bottom left for size comparison.

Above: This is what happens when you start ironing from one corner and working your way to the next corner. SUPER FAIL. The cooling times were so hard to keep up with. I might have needed to work on a much lower heat setting as well. I think I had it medium/high because I was getting impatient -_- The larger pieces will take some time, so be patient!! I regret not being more patient with it :(

I spent several hours trying to fix it but it was not salvageable :( This was my first attempt on this large of an installation. Lesson learned!

This is my largest installation made to-date! I am extremely proud of this piece because it turned out better than I had expected! I pulled the pattern from Deviantart and made a few adjustments to it (http://www.deviantart.com/art/Gir-s-Dream-Come-True-264070279). I was extremely nervous going into this project because I did not feel I was ready. However, I really wanted to make this for my good friend for his birthday. It arrived a week late because of packaging and shipping issues, but it arrived safe and sound! Yay!

Some people have been wondering how I make these Perler designs. First step: I use interlocking pegboards and place a bead on each peg to make my design. Like so:

After my design is completed, I tape it with painter’s tape to keep the beads together. Like so:

After this, I pull the beads off the pegboard and poke holes into the painters tape for each bead. I forgot to take a picture, but I have an example of this from my Recon Corp project. The painter’s tape I used is extreme low adhesion so a BUNCH of beads popped off when I pulled this off the peg board. It was a nightmare! I kept my cool and was able to get all the beads back into the right place (or somewhere close to the right place, haha).

Using this poking tool from my 9 in 1 Interchangeable Screwdriver Set!

I then put parchment paper on top of the design and iron it. I have it set on medium-high heat and move the iron left & right and up & down. I will normally leave the iron in a spot for a few seconds before moving to another spot. This gives the plastic beads some time to heat up and melt. It’s important to try and keep the entire piece warm until you’re completely done. You don’t want any parts of the piece cooling before you’re done because your Perler piece will start curling.

When you’re done melting your beads, stack heavy books on it to keep it flat while it’s cooling. DO NOT put the books on it immediately after you’re done ironing, let it cool a little before doing this or you’ll squish your beads! I let it sit under this over night.

I used acrylic paint on an 18″x24″ inch canvas to paint the background for Gir and Pig.

My friend saw my Perler projects and wanted me to make him something. I told him to pick a couple of designs he’d like to have and I’d surprise him. His choices:

Freya from FFIX

Vivi from FFIX

A Moogle

A Tonberry

Tera from FFVI

All were EXCELLENT choices! I wanted to do one of each but I could not find a good design or a design I liked for Freya, Vivi, or the Tonberry. The designs that interested me were much larger projects than I was comfortable with at this time. I found some nice designs for Tera and moogles, but when it came time to start the project, I was only interested in making the moogle design. Sorry Tera, I was just not in the mood for you!!

It came out pretty good! As stated in the previous post, I ran out of the painters tape I was using to tape the beads together before ironing. Since the tape I was using before gave me issues with leaving adhesive behind on my designs, I opted for different tape. I ended up with 3M 2080 edge lock tape for Advanced Delicate Surfaces. I wanted to make sure no adhesive would get stuck to my Perler design!

First Mistake. Getting tape with low adhesion level. The tape had such low adhesion level that beads would pop off while I was trying to remove it from the pegboard. A good amount of beads had fallen off. Luckily, this is a fairly small design so it was not too bad, but I can not imagine what kind of nightmare this would be on a larger piece!!

Other than that, there really was not any other mistakes worth noting. Nothing is ever perfect, but I consider this one very close to it! Yay!

If there is a design you would like to see, let me know and I might try and make it :)

I remade Link and Cloud to give to my good friend, Ry-kun. I changed some of the bead colors because I noticed they did not really make sense. I changed the colors of Cloud’s sword and his shoulder armor. I changed it to a light gray color; it was a light/aqua blue color before. I noticed the skin color on Cloud was a little off, so I changed the skin tone on Link. Instead of cream colored beads, I used sand color beads instead. It has a more natural color with the sand colored beads so I am happy I decided to change it. I also decided to make Link’s boots look like Cloud’s. Before, Link’s boots had two different shades. The one tone looks much nicer in my opinion.

I was hoping the pieces would come out perfect, but a few mistakes were made. Most of the mistakes are the same ones I made previously. The only one worth noting is a mistake made during the ironing phase. When ironing, it would be ideal to move the iron left to right and up to down (or vice versa). This will help keep lines straight. Since I was moving the iron in a circular motion, Cloud and Link’s swords came out a little crooked! It’s a little more noticeable further away, but here is an up close photo:

I wish I had noticed the skin tone earlier because I would have made Cloud’s skin tone sand instead of cream, too. Either than that, I felt pretty good with how these turned out. Ry-kun actually received these over the weekend and he noticed that the lines were better than the first set, so YAY! VICTORY!

I didn’t do a great job with taking photos this time around, but I did take some photos of things I left out in the previous post!

My next project was to do the Attack on Titan Recon Corp symbol. I wanted to make this for my brother-in-law. I’m not familiar with the show and I haven’t watched it, so I had to pull a lot of information from the internet. I prayed that I made the symbol correctly!

So after placing the beads on the Perler pegboard, I taped it up and poked holes into every single bead.

I then flipped it over and put parchment paper on top. This is the side that’s going to get ironed down – the back side. Some people like this backside image more because it gives that pixel look, but I like the front side more where you can see the beads. I also think the colors are much more vibrant on the front side. I think the backside is cool looking, but it’s still just the back!

I didn’t take a photo of the completed piece and I already gave it to my brother-in-law so I can’t take photos of it. The only problem I ran into with this project is that the tape got stuck to the design when I was done ironing it. I’m pretty sure this was caused by “bad” tape. Luckily, I finished the roll of tape I had with this project :)